Are You Listening...Digitally?Digital #listening is different. Conversations provide nonverbal clues missing online, but online provides other kinds of clues. Online clues are easy to walk by without even knowing you just missed a clue.

Examples of missed online clues abound and include:

* Small Follow Back % (sends "we don't listen" signal). * Pushing only YOUR content (need to act less proprietarily to become or act as an #authority ).* Not curating or rewarding #ugc (User Generated Content).* Not responding to @yourtwitter mentions with RTs and thanks.* Not responding to direct @yourtwitter messages.* Not responding to Twitter DMs in a timely way (can be made worse by not following enough people to be able to DM).* Not being present on a major social net (like +Google+ ).* Not asking questions & then curating response.etc...

Could go on and on, but you get the idea. LISTENING online is different and few do it well. Here is what +Cendrine Marrouat said on my comment on this post on her G+

I agree. It's more about not being used to paying attention than anything else. It ties into what we were saying the other day about old-fashioned marketing vs. human branding.

I'd pointed out that I don't think most online marketers aren't listening out of arrogance (though that is the case for some), but because digital "listening" is different as this great share by one of my favorite #contentcurators illustrates.

This weekend, I was working on a social media strategy for a client. When I hit the part on social media monitoring, I remembered the many questions participants in my classes have had about that particular area.

Social listening has helped me understand what makes many of my readers tick. Plus, connecting with new people is fun. :-)